ASHLEY Cain is no stranger to sacrifice having pushed his body to the limit time and again to raise money and awareness for his charitable foundation.
But his latest record-breaking feat was that much tougher as it took him away from his baby son for nearly three months.
Ashley could only see seven month old Aliyas over Facetime as he took on a gruelling ultraman challenge that saw him become the first man to run, cycle and kayak from John O’Groats to Land’s End back to back.
The doting dad, who took on the mammoth task in memory of daughter Azaylia, travelled nearly 3,000 miles in total and raised close to £200,000 for The Azaylia Foundation, which supports families of children with cancer.
Ashley and ex-girlfriend Safiyya Vorajee set up the foundation after Azaylia’s passing from leukaemia three years ago aged just eight months.
He was given a hero’s welcome as he crossed the finish line last Saturday, but his attention immediately turned to reuniting with his seven-month-old son.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, he said: “Missing my son, I used to have to try and finish the run, the cycle or the kayak early enough to try and Facetime him, but even that was a rare occasion.
“So I just had to have the faith that I was doing the right thing for my daughter. And she was my hero.
“So hopefully I could be his hero by pushing through in the process. So that’s why I had faith in me.”
Most would assume Ashley is now putting his feet up and spending a few days or weeks relaxing.
But for the former footballer, the reality of that is a nightmare.
He explained: “I think that’s one thing that people don’t imagine everybody thinks that are you, you’ll be looking forward to getting back, you’ll be looking forward to relaxing. I hate relaxing. And I hate relaxing 10 times as much when I’ve had 80 days of pushing myself to the limit.
“To give you an idea, I finished the challenge on the Saturday, I drove the 12 hour drive back on the Sunday, straight back to my son where I had my son for the first four days of me being back.
“So I was straight into the normal world and normal life. But the one thing that I was grateful of was coming back to my son because he made that experience, which would usually be incredibly, you know, tormenting on me like a very pleasurable one, you know, because I got to look after him, I got to take care of him, I got to hold him, kiss him, and just be a dad.
“And being a dad for me is the greatest role that you can have as a man on this planet. And, you know, I feel lucky, you know, the opportunity to be able to do that again.”
Physically, Ashley’s body has been nothing short of superhuman throughout his 87 days of constant motion.
There were many stresses and strains along the journey, but Ashley is already back training and has no lasting bodily impacts.
He said: “Surprisingly, my body feels great. If I wasn’t looking forward to getting home and hugging and kissing and being a dad to my son, I’d have turned around and gone the other way.
“But my body got to a point where after all of the trauma and the tears and the sickness and the stress fractures, it started to rejuvenate. And I started to feel better. I started to feel stronger. I started to feel fitter.
“I think I feel great because I knew that every single step, pedal or paddle, you know, was going to change and save the lives of children.”
That’s not to say he wasn’t hurting during the challenge. Some mornings it took an hour of movement before the pain would subside.
The Scottish Highlands and Cornish Hills proved particularly troublesome for the land part of the journey, while the conditions out at sea were treacherous.
Ashley said: “It was the worst summer at sea for around 10 years. So we had harsh winds, we had extremely cold weather, we had rain. And, if I’m honest, we didn’t see another boat on the water until we got midway up Scotland, because when we were coming out all of the docks and the ports, all the fishermen were telling us that we’re crazy to be going out in these kind of conditions.
“So each and every part of the trip had its own difficulties and mentally to kind of become at one with your pain and sit in it for, you know, seven to 11 hours a day while actually working, you know, is very hard.
“But when I reflect back on being in the hospital with my daughter and seeing what she had to face and seeing how she faced it, you know, changed my life forever. And it made me think, you know, in comparison, I’ve got nothing at all to complain about.”
